[View Point] Breaking News: Cockroaches top Congress!

As a trade magazine journalist, I’m naturally interested in public perceptions about a wide range of subjects, including consumer attitudes about the structural pest control industry. That’s why I was both intrigued and amused when a recent study by Public Policy Polling (PPP) indicated that the 112th Congress, which battled over a wide range of contentious issues during the past two years, was less popular than root canals, head lice, NFL replacement refs, the rock band Nickelback, colonoscopies, France, Genghis Khan, cockroaches, used-car salesmen and Brussels sprouts. Ouch!

Before I poke too much fun at our country’s elected representatives, however, the media doesn’t fare much better, according to a recent Gallup survey. Gallup reported that Americans’ distrust of the “Fourth Estate” hit an all-time high in 2012, with 60 percent saying they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. I feel your pain, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi.

On a more positive note, according to the PPP survey, Congress did manage to beat out telemarketers (45% for Congress and 35% for the most annoying job in America), North Korea (61-26), the ebola virus (53-25), Lindsay Lohan (45-41), playground bullies (43-38), meth labs (60-21) and the Kardashians (49-36), sans Bruce Jenner, I presume.

“We all know Congress is unpopular,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, Raleigh, N.C. “But the fact that voters like it even less than cockroaches, lice and Genghis Khan really shows how far its esteem has fallen with the American public over the last few weeks.”

You think? By the way, what’s wrong with Brussels sprouts?

The author is publisher of PCT magazine.